Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising World

Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising WorldEdited by Rahil Ismail Brian Shaw
and Ooi Giok Ling
SoutheaSt aSian Culture and heritage in a globaliSing World
heritage, Culture and identity Series Editor: brian graham,
School of environmental Sciences, university of ulster, uK
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Southeast asian Culture and heritage in a globalising World
diverging identities in a dynamic region
Edited by rahil iSMail
ooi gioK ling National Institute of Education,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
© rahil ismail, brian J. Shaw and ooi giok ling 2009
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
rahil ismail, brian J. Shaw and ooi giok ling have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court east Suite 420 union road 101 Cherry Street Farnham burlington Surrey, gu9 7Pt Vt 05401-4405 england uSa
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Southeast asian culture and heritage in a globalising world :
diverging identities in a dynamic region. - (heritage, culture and identity) 1. ethnology - Southeast asia 2. globalization - Southeast asia 3. Southeast asia - Civilization i. ismail, rahil ii. Shaw, brian J. iii. ooi, giok ling 959
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Southeast asian culture and heritage in a globalising world : diverging identities in a dynamic region / edited by rahil ismail, brian Shaw, and ooi giok ling.
p. cm. -- (heritage, culture, and identity) iSbn 978-0-7546-7261-6
1. Southeast asia--Civilization. 2. ethnology--Southeast asia. 3. globalization--Southeast asia. i. ismail, rahil. ii. Shaw, brian J. iii. ooi, giok ling.
dS523.2.S53 2008 959--dc22
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii List of Contributors ix Foreword xiii Preface xv
1 diverging identities in a dynamic region 1 Brian J. Shaw
2 ‘di waktu petang di geylang Serai’ geylang Serai: Maintaining identity in a globalised World 19
Rahil Ismail
3 Paradise lost? islands, global tourism and heritage erasure in Malaysia and Singapore 43
Ooi Giok Ling and Brian J. Shaw
4 ‘being rooted and living globally’: Singapore’s educational reform as Post-developmental governance 59
Mark Baildon
5 Morphogenesis and hybridity of Southeast asian Coastal Cities 79 Johannes Widodo
6 nation-building, identity and War Commemoration Spaces in Malaysia and Singapore 93
Kevin Blackburn
7 being Javanese in a Changing Javanese City 115 Ambar Widiastuti
8 re-imagining economic development in a Post-colonial World: towards laos 2020 129
Michael Theno
9 When was burma? Military rules since 1962 139 Nancy Hudson-Rodd
Index 171
list of Figures and tables
Figures
1.1 Southeast asia 3 2.1 geylang Serai 20 2.2 hari raya bazaar, october 2005 32 2.3 Demolition of Geylang Serai flats, September 2006 33 3.1 existing structures blakang Mati island, 1970 47 3.2 existing development Sentosa island, april 1980 47 3.3 the Merlion at Sentosa 48 3.4 langkawi island 51 5.1 Mediterranean of asia 80 5.2 Superimposition of two tripartite cosmological hierarchies of space 82 5.3 Kampung Kling mosque in Melaka 83 5.4 datuk shrines 85 5.5 diagrammatic map of hakka mining town of Monterado (West Kalimantan) with a temple for guandi at the city centre 86 5.6 house of the Chinese Captain in Palembang 87 5.7 Morphologic model of Semarang (indonesia) in early 20th century 89 5.8 Sultan Mosque in labuhan deli, northern Sumatra, in hybrid art-deco style (1854) 90 6.1 Major Chinese massacres in the Malay Peninsula, 1942 96 6.2 Memorial to Chinese War dead in Johor bahru 100 6.3 Singapore’s Civic Centre and Civilian War Memorial 107 7.1 Shoppers at Yogyakarta shopping mall 120 7.2 Shoppers at Carrefour supermarket on a Sunday afternoon 121 8.1 lao-americans celebrating new Year in Fresno, California, december 2007 133 9.1 ‘People’s desire’ banner, rangoon, 2008 140 9.2 town hall, rangoon, 2008 141 9.3 road near beautyland, 2008 145 9.4 Street gamers, rangoon, 2008 146 9.5 Shwedagon Market, november 2007 147 9.6 Street phone, rangoon, 2008 148 9.7 Phekon town and Villages, Karenni/Kayah State 155 9.8 Mobye town, Karenni/Kayah State 157
Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising Worldviii
Tables
6.1 Percentage distribution of population by race in Malaysia 102 6.2 Percentage distribution of population by race in Singapore 102 9.1 State Security network in burma 158 9.2 agreements between the SPdC and the armed opposition groups, ethnicity, and geographic location in burma 161
list of Contributors
Mark Baildon is an assistant Professor in humanities and Social Studies education at the national institute of education (nanyang technological university, Singapore). he has a Phd in Curriculum, teaching, and educational Policy from Michigan State university, a Masters in Social Sciences from Syracuse university, and a b.a. in history and psychology from the university of rochester. his teaching and research interests include inquiry-based and critical social studies education, the uses of technology to support disciplined inquiry practices, multiliteracies, and teacher learning. Mark has also taught social studies in secondary schools in the united States, israel, Singapore, Saudi arabia, and taiwan. recent publications include, Negotiating epistemological tensions in thinking and practice: A case study of a literacy and inquiry tool as a mediator of professional conversation (with J. damico, under review) and Examining ways readers engage with Web sites during think aloud sessions (with J. damico).
Kevin Blackburn is currently an associate Professor in history, national institute of education, nanyang technological university, Singapore. Since 2001, he has also presented various interviews for radio australia, abC radio, and talkback radio stations, Mediacorp’s Cna and Chinese Channel 8, Cnn, and newspapers, Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Shin Min Daily News on the Japanese occupation. he is also a referee and reviewer for the journal, Australian Studies (the british australian Studies association, King’s College, university of london). his most recent publications include Forgotten Captives in Japanese Occupied Asia: National Memories and Forgotten Captivities, london, routledge (with Karl hack).
Nancy Hudson-Rodd was formerly Senior lecturer and is now adjunct associate Professor in the School of international, Cultural and Community Studies Mt lawley Campus edith Cowan university, Western australia.
Rahil Ismail is currently an assistant Professor in national institute of education, nanyang technological university, Singapore in the humanities and Social Sciences education academic group. She has expertise in the areas of multicultural studies and education with specific reference to Singapore, and has acted as consultant and facilitator for community organisations, such as People’s Association and Central Singapore Joint Social Service Centre. this is intertwined with her other research interests in heritage studies and international relations. her publications encompass this wide range of interests as with her teaching
Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising Worldx
duties which included teaching and coordinating american history and politics, international relations, multicultural studies, film history, the Vietnam War and conflict and cooperation. Recent publications include ‘Children’s Experiences of Multiracial relationships in informal Primary School Settings’ (co-author), ‘Singapore’s Malay-Muslim Minority: Social Identification in a Post-9/11 World’ (with brian J. Shaw), ‘ignoring the elephant in the room: racism in the War on terror’, ‘ramadan and bussorah Street: the Spirit of Place’, ‘ethnoscapes, entertainment and ‘eritage in the global City: Segmented Spaces in Singapore’s Joo Chiat road’ (with brian J. Shaw).
Ooi Giok Ling is currently Professor, national institute of education, nanyang technological university. Previously she was a Senior research Fellow at the institute of Policy Studies, Singapore; adjunct associate Professor department of geography, national university of Singapore; and has served as director, research division, at the Ministry of home affairs in Singapore. She has published more than eighty refereed articles and chapters in books and has authored or co-authored twelve books, most recently Civic Space and the Rise of Civil Society in a Globalising World, london: routledge (forthcoming); Changing Geographies and Global Issues of the 21st Century (2006) Singapore: Pearson/Prentice-hall; Sustainability and Cities – Concept and Assessment (2005) World Scientific Press, Singapore; Housing in Southeast Asian Capital Cities (2005) Southeast asian book Series, institute of Southeast asian Studies, Singapore, and The Future of Space – Planning, Space and the City (2004) eastern universities Press, Singapore.
Brian J. Shaw is Senior lecturer in the School of earth and geographical Sciences at the university of Western australia, Perth. his research into urban development, heritage and tourism issues has been widely published in journals such as Australian Geographer, Current Issues in Tourism, GeoJournal, International Journal of Heritage Studies, Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography and Urban Policy and Research. his recent books include joint authorship of Beyond the Port City: Development and Identity in C21st Singapore (Pearson 2004) and co-editorship of Challenging Sustainability: Urban Development and Change in Southeast Asia (Marshall Cavendish 2005).
Michael Theno was formerly an assistant Professor in Menlo College, California. he has 17 years teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels with students diverse in age, ability, nationality and ethnicity. his areas of teaching competence include Political Science, humanities, organizational behavior and development, diversity, Management, and Public administration. this extends into developing course curricula as well as executing other activities beyond traditional lectures. his research interests also include the political and economic development of indochina. his most recent publications include The Lao Hmong of Watt ham Krabok: A Moment of Enactable Policy (2006) with M. Speck.
List of Contributors xi
Ambar Widiastuti graduated cum laude from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, gadjah Mada university, Yogyakarta, indonesia where she achieved ‘best graduate from department of international relations’ with a thesis entitled ‘the role of education Policies in Managing racial harmony in Singapore’ (2006). She is currently working with the World health organization (Who) in Yogyakarta, indonesia and was formerly a tutor at the Muhammadiyah university of Yogyakarta.
Johannes Widodo is an associate Professor at the department of architecture with a joint appointment in asian Cities Cluster of asia research institute (ari) at the national university of Singapore. he received his Phd in architecture from the university of tokyo, Japan (1996), Master of architectural engineering degree from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (1988), and his first professional degree in architectural engineering (ir.) from Parahyangan Catholic university in bandung, indonesia (1984). his area of specialisation includes architecture, urban history and morphology of Southeast asian cities, asian modernity, and heritage Conservation. his current on-going research project is on the morphology and transformation of the coastal cities in indonesia, Malaysia and thailand, funded by the national university of Singapore (2005–2008). he wrote The Boat and the City – Chinese Diaspora and the Architecture of Southeast Asian Coastal Cities, published by Marshall Cavendish academic, Singapore (2004). recently he contributed two chapters on Modern indonesian architecture and on the Chinese diaspora architecture in The Past in the Present – Architecture in Indonesia, edited by Peter J.M. nas, published by nai publisers, rotterdam (2006). he is the editor of ARCASIA Architectural Timeline Chart book, published by the architects regional Council asia and university of Santo tomas Publishing house, Manila (2006).
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Foreword
Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising World is a welcome scholarly addition to the ongoing conversation about global futures, especially as it pertains to Southeast asia. this volume, in papers that look both backward and forward, is especially welcome in that the contributors are insiders and those with an intimate knowledge of the region. the voices are therefore authentic and the analysis both rigorous and sympathetic.
Southeast asia’s ancient and recent histories, its diversity and its mix of future and past in its urban, and still considerable rural habitats, are unique; it is the crossroad of metropolitan and regional cultures. Southeast asia is simultaneously coming to terms with persistent tradition, modernity and post modernity. its success and failures in managing wrenching change will offer valuable insights into how change processes involving the local, national, regional and global can be managed.
of particular interest is the serious attention devoted in this volume to the ways in which traditional resources or heritage is used, deliberately and accidentally, worked and reworked to satisfy multiple audiences. ‘instant asia’ may be a catchy marketing slogan but it grossly undervalues enduring asia. Several papers in this volume look at several aspects ranging from curriculum reform, ethnic enclaves, tourism islands, and commemorative spaces, using them as illustrative ethnoscapes to detail the ways in which change is being confronted and managed. one concern is the possibility that the new cultural geographies being created by change may not be sustainable or provide for equitable and sustainable development. that remains to be seen but I remain confident in the resilience of enduring values and ways of living.
Professors ismail, Shaw and ooi are to be congratulated on their efforts in turning conference papers into a well-edited and compelling volume. i am certain that it will be a major text in university courses and indeed read more widely amongst those who will want to better understand the region.
S. gopinathan, Professor and head Centre for research in Pedagogy and Practice national institute of education nanyang technological university Singapore
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Preface
the Southeast asian geography association (Seaga) is proud to have provided the platform upon which the ideas for this book of insightful essays on heritage and identity issues in the region have been developed. the association is an international network of scholars, academics, educators and professionals, who are working on, as well as in, the Southeast asian region. this network has met biennially in different Southeast asian locations since its 1990 inception in brunei darussalam. its success is a tribute to the vision displayed by Professor goh Kim Chuan, the early driving force behind the association, and more latterly Professor ooi giok ling who has presided over the last two Seaga meetings from 2006.
during the 2006 Seaga international Conference held in Singapore, a number of the authors of the essays in this book met to deliberate the politics of heritage, culture and identity in the port cities as well as other coastal cities in Southeast asia, conservation of ethnic neighbourhoods in fast growing world cities as well as the meanings of regional and local identities in a globalising world. these are themes that are important to the fast growing and changing region of Southeast asia and its people. While material needs – food, housing, energy, infrastructure for health, transport and environment among others – remain important in shaping the cultural landscapes of the region, the turmoil that continues to challenge state and society in the Southeast asian region appears to revolve around the nation-state and its meanings in relation to ethnicity, cultural heritage, place and belonging.
the essays in the book have noted that with global competition, governments in Southeast asia have been responding in myriad ways in the bid to attract international investors, businesses and tourists. Contestation between local and global needs have emerged throughout the region as governments decide between investments in international airports and telecommunications infrastructure or basic housing, clean water supply and such more localised needs. the bid by national and city governments to integrate more closely with the global economy also implies rapid change that has led to social fragmentation and the exclusion of large segments of society from the benefits that globalisation purportedly brings.
in the process of change, the authors rightly point out that the state, market and institutions in society in the Southeast asian region act as cultural and social gatekeepers. Much of the time, policy decisions and market developments will have impact and implications for the context in which identities are formed and shaped together with its attendant meanings. although globalisation suggests that de-territorialisation will be a major outcome in processes that are changing the region, clearly trends point to the contrary as varying forms of civic engagement appear to be rallying around identities that are very much linked to nationalities,
Southeast Asian Culture and Heritage in a Globalising Worldxvi
ethnicity and common cultural backgrounds. these civic processes involving citizens demanding political reforms and attention to neglected social policies have been organised around places that have become icons of political reforms and change – edsa in Manila in the Philippines and independence Square in bangkok, thailand.
Southeast asia has always been at the crossroads of cultural exchange and the meeting of varying cultures – east and west, asian, Southeast and east asian. today it remains a region that is facing increasing cultural diversity with globalisation and the international migration of labour. the essays in this book therefore address issues that are at the heart of the development dilemmas faced by societies in the region. the questions that are posed and answered concern the choices that Southeast asian societies must make now and in the future as they face the supposedly culturally homogenising forces of globalisation as well as the impact of rapid social and cultural change that economic growth has brought about in the region.
Chapter 1
Introduction
Writing on the modern history of the region, nicholas tarling begins with the statement that ‘Southeast asia is marked by ethnic diversity’ (tarling 2001, 3). this statement recognises the importance of Southeast asia as a cultural crossroads, a quality that has given rise to high levels of ethnic pluralism, not only between countries, sub-regions and urban areas but also at the local levels of community and neighbourhood. the foundations for such diversity can be traced back to the earliest migrations of early Homo populations, which settled in the region some 1.5 million years ago, characterised today as ‘Java Man’ by virtue of extensive fossil finds at Sangiran, in present-day central Java. However, notwithstanding the region’s claim to importance in human prehistory during the Pleistocene epoch, it is the more recent migrations occurring during the present holocene period, specifically between 12,000 and 5,000 years BP, which are now credited by archaeologists as laying the foundations of the region’s current ethnolinguistic diversity (bellwood and glover 2004). by that time, the area now occupied by present day China was an ‘ethnic mosaic’ with no less than five language families, namely the Sino-tibetan, austroasiatic, tai, hmong-Mien and austronesian, making up the earliest populations of agricultural villages based on the cultivation of foxtail and broomcorn millet in the north and rice in the south (bellwood 2004; bellwood and glover 2004).
Subsequent migrations, through Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula and via taiwan and the Philippines, expanded these populations throughout the region, and beyond. Most spectacularly, the austronesian dispersals that occurred between 5,500 and 1,000 years bP took such peoples into Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, and ultimately as far as hawai’i and easter island (bellwood 2004). it was however in the fertile flood plains of the Southeast Asian mainland that the great agrarian kingdoms developed, based on intensive wet-rice cultivation systems that were finely attuned to the cycle of the prevailing monsoon (Wolters 1999). here the highest…